Sermon - Sept 14, 2025 (Genesis 22) Rethinking Our Beliefs About God and Violence in the Bible

For a passage about God’s ultimate test, here’s a test question of my own:

The popular quote, "We must hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other," is most commonly attributed to…

A)  Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

B)  Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

C)  Rev. Billy Graham

D)  None of the Above

If you silently answered D) None of the Above, congratulations, you passed! “We must hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other” is originally from the mouth of Swiss theologian Karl Barth, not Dietrich Bonhoeffer (as I thought.) 

Barth's point may be self-evident, but for those unsure, the statement is often interpreted to mean that Christians must be equally dedicated to understanding both their faith and the world around them---a sentiment that’s easy to assume was uttered by the likes of Bonhoeffer, who, as history would have it, was a prime example of someone who lived it out. His life and theology not only said what needed saying but more importantly demonstrated a profound fusion of deep biblical commitment with a critical, engaged participation in the world's affairs—attributes one and all can strive to emulate today with God’s help.

Today’s Test

Now onto the real test of the day: holding an example of violence from the scriptures in one hand and countless examples of violence from the newspaper in the other hand.  

I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t like tests, Pastor. And I sure don’t want to talk about violence of all things. I’d rather it be a sermon about literally anything else. There has to be another, better option than this.”

I could have gone a different route, sure. And yet, that Karl Barth quote dropped into my head the instant I started writing. We could steer clear and talk about something else. Or we can be courageous. And that’s when another quote popped into my head.

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” So said the little-known paraplegic American author Ambrose Redmoon.

I think that the “something else more important than fear” is our need to examine our beliefs about God and violence in the ancient scriptures. While certainly not as enjoyable as some other topics, it is often only when we push ourselves through the muck that we improve in ways that “fun” or “easy” can’t provide us.

So, without further ado on this the first day of children’s church: Let’s dive in and talk about child sacrifice in the ancient world, shall we?

Textual Commentary & Historical Context

From The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians read the same stories differently by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler:

The oldest legal collection in the Bible is found in Exodus 22:29—30 and contains the following legislation:

“You shall not delay to make offerings from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep; seven days it shall remain with its mother; on the 8^th day you shall give it to me.”

Micah 6:7 also suggests giving God the firstborn. In context this was not depicted as a sacrificial giving up to death but rather that the firstborn was given over to God in a priestly fashion sort of way, as if the firstborn was relegated to serve at a local temple, as illustrated by Hannah dedicating her son Samuel to the temple at Shiloh. Pay attention firstborns, the ministry is always open to new applicants!

So, the Bible then doesn’t explicitly promote child sacrifice, right? Right? Wrong. Unfortunately, the scriptures of Israel do, on occasion, depict human sacrifice. According to Judges 11, Jephthah sacrificed his daughter in fulfilling a vow that were God to grant him military victory, he would offer the first to come out of his house. According to 2 Kings 3:27 there’s a story of how the Moabite king offered his son as a burnt offering and from the author’s perspective, whatever motivated him to do so ended up being a winning gamble. All said and done, the painful truth is that, Yes, our “holy scriptures” not only occasionally depict violence against children but the texts go one step further and declare that these sacrificial deaths were at times effective, either in atoning for sins or of diverting some great disaster.

From Genesis for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood, and Abused Book of the Bible by Peter Enns and Jared Byas

“(The story of Abraham binding Isaac) is a story about whether God would exercise his full rights over the firstborn—whether he would actually require Abraham to go through with the sacrifice, or whether God would allow for a “substitute.”

Interpreting Genesis 22 as children of God today

The more I read this story, the more I wonder what the ancient Israelites wanted us to think and do with it. I have so many more questions than answers.

Does God really require such radical trust of this magnitude from us? Couldn’t the Creator of the Universe think of any other type of way to test the obedience of Abraham? Are we supposed to emulate Abraham’s stone-cold obedience here? I mean Abraham almost murdered his one and only son—a child he and his barren wife waited decades for! Isn’t it more than a little unnerving that Abraham was prepared to do the unthinkable without so much as a moment’s hesitation or shred of doubt? Or maybe the moral of the story was that bit about the Angel of the Lord intervening and saving Abraham from going through with it—is that supposed to somehow redeem this story’s awful plotline?

I just don’t see why or how Isaac being saved at the last second makes everything OK.

The Bible and the Newspaper

Similarly, when I look from the Bible’s violence to the newspaper… Ugh. So much needless pain and suffering due to violence. Children shot at and killed while praying. Entire populations of people starving in active warzones with no peaceful end in sight. Political leaders and activists fomenting hate speech, aggression, and divisive rage. More school shootings. Another politically motivated murder on American soil. What in the world is going on? I don’t know.

But I know that our relationship with violence needs to change. Is it time for us to rethink how we interpret violence in the scriptures?

Is it possible that:

A)  The Bible does not always provide an accurate description of who God is?

B)  The Bible’s use of violence is incompatible with our belief in a loving God?

C)  The Bible often reflects the violent ways of the humans who wrote it and not necessarily God ways?

D)  All of the above?

Speculation of the meaning behind this story abounds. Popular hot-takes include that the binding and release of Isaac is A) about Abraham’s need to pass God’s bold test of faithfulness, B) about an alternative response to the ancient cultural child sacrifice norms, or C) about the radical and risky nature of true trust in God.

For me, it’s definitely D) None of the above. I confess that I have no qualms defying Christianity from time to time, but can anyone blame me? Believe what you want, but a voice that calls for murderous violence, particularly against a defenseless child, is not the voice of a loving God. Prove me wrong.

Conclusion

Abraham may not have completed the dreadful action in question but he still likely caused irreversible harm to his son. There might be the temptation to equate violence like this and other acts like it that occur throughout the Biblical witness in the manner in which I’ve come to understand the role of violence in a person act of self-defense or a soldier’s participation in situations of war; Was Abraham’s command to sacrifice Isaac an act of  “necessary evil” (such as we’re taught about these examples)? Perhaps. Or maybe these ancient words are inviting us to risk thinking differently?

Some may say that questioning the Bible’s authority as I am is uncouth, unchristian, heretical. Perhaps. But let me remind you that the Bible is an inspired collection of ancient words but the Bible is NOT God, the omnipotent, all-knowing, loving creative force of the universe. The Bible was a humanitarian effort of describing God and God’s ways, but we need to remember in difficult passages like this one that God—the God—my God and your God—see, even the “word” God is insufficient! The Beloved Source of All that Is—God-- is truly uncontainable, indescribable, boundlessly free to be abundantly then and now. And this God is here! Still speaking with us, creating light at this… very… moment.

So above all, let us remember that. Let us remember that we are the children of God—and just like children, sometimes our nature is to question, yes, even something as sacred as the Bible, and any words we hear that conflict with our loving nature as God’s beloved creation.

We each have a responsibility to silence the violence in all of its forms today, but there is no opportunity as prevalent for the people of God, than in how we use our words when communicating; Be it with our fingertips or voices, let us remember the light given us at our baptism. I pray you remember that light before you post on social media, or text a family member, or disagree with a neighbor—that you ask yourself: Am I a child of God here to take life or to give it?

In the name of Jesus the Christ, the Light who shines in the Darkness. Amen.